Base station that transmits system information based on beam information and user equipment

ABSTRACT

A mobile telecommunications system anchor base station for a mobile telecommunications system is described. The mobile telecommunications system has at least one anchor cell and at least one slave cell which is associated with the anchor cell. The anchor base station has a circuitry which is configured to transmit system information based on beam information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a National Stage Application based onPCT/EP2017/062854, filed on 29 May 2017, and claims priority to EuropeanPatent Application No. 16177187.8, filed on 30 Jun. 2016, the entirecontents of which being incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally pertains to an anchor base station, aslave base station and a user equipment.

TECHNICAL BACKGROUND

Several generations of mobile telecommunications systems are known, e.g.the third generation (“3G”), which is based on the International MobileTelecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000) specifications, the fourth generation(“4G”), which provides capabilities as defined in the InternationalMobile Telecommunications-Advanced Standard (IMT-Advanced Standard), andthe current fifth generation (“5G”), which is under development andwhich might be put into practice in the year 2020.

The candidate for providing the requirements of 5G is the so-called LongTerm Evolution (“LTE”), which is a wireless communication technologyallowing high-speed data communications for mobile phones and dataterminals and which is already used for 4G mobile telecommunicationssystems.

LTE is based on the GSM/EDGE (“Global System for MobileCommunications”/“Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution” also calledEGPRS) of the second generation (“2G”) and UMTS/HSPA (“Universal MobileTelecommunications System”/“High Speed Packet Access”) of the thirdgeneration (“3G”) network technologies.

LTE is standardized under the control of 3GPP (“3rd GenerationPartnership Project”) and there exists a successor LTE-A (LTE Advanced)allowing higher data rates than the basis LTE and which is alsostandardized under the control of 3GPP.

For the future, 3GPP plans to further develop LTE-A such that it will beable to fulfill the technical requirements of 5G.

As the 5G system will be based on LTE or LTE-A, respectively, it isassumed that specific requirements of the 5G technologies will,basically, be dealt with by features and methods which are alreadydefined in the LTE and LTE-A standard documentation.

5G technologies will allow a concept of a so-called “virtual cell” or“local cell” or the like. In this concept a cell is served by a userequipment (“UE”), e.g. a mobile phone, a computer, tablet, tabletpersonal computer or the like, including a mobile communicationinterface, or any other device which is able to perform a mobiletelecommunication via, for example, LTE(-A), such as a hot spot devicewith a mobile communication interface. In short, the UE worksdynamically as an intermediate node for establishing an indirect networkconnection between other UEs in the vicinity of the virtual cell orlocal cell and the network, and/or as an intermediate node between UEs.A function of the intermediate node on the UE may also be carried out by“virtualization”. A virtual cell or local cell may communicate with UEsin unlicensed, shared licensed or licensed bands, and it back-hauls tonetwork preferably in licensed bands.

A logical separation between control plane and user plane has beenintroduced in accordance with the introduction of the IP MultimediaSystem (IMS) for LTE, and a physical separation between control planeand user plane has been proposed as a possible solution for 5G. Sincerequirements for the control plane should be basically robustness andwide coverage so as to maintain the service continuity, a macro oranchor base station should provide a link to the control plane. On theother hand, a key performance of the user plane is the efficientspectrum usage in order to improve the cell capacity. However, since therequirements of the user plane highly depend on specific use case or UEcapability/category, a variety of types of reception/transmission orrouting methods are considered according to the respective use case orUE capability/category taking into account a concept for 5G such as“network slicing”.

For the 5G technologies, it is envisaged that a UE in the function asvirtual cell should be able to take over responsibilities, which aretypically carried out, for example, in a base station, or eNodeB(Evolved Node B) as it is called in LTE (the eNodeB is the element inthe evolved UTRA of LTE, the UTRA being the UMTS Terrestrial RadioAccess). Such responsibilities which are envisaged to be performed inthe UE as a virtual cell are, for example, radio resource management,radio resource control (“RRC”), connection control, etc. Hence, it isnot solely relied on the eNodeB or a small cell to relay data and toorganize the local network, but such functions are shifted to the UEfunction as a virtual cell. The existence of such intermediate nodes ofvirtual cells in the network are expected to offload signalling overheadfrom the eNodeB, to allocate radio resource efficiently, etc.

Moreover, beamforming technology is envisaged to be used in 5G, forexample, for improving spectral efficiency, for managing mobility, etc.Beamforming may also be used with the introduction of mmWave cells.

Although there exist signaling techniques for the future 5G technology,it is generally desirable to improve the signaling.

SUMMARY

According to a first aspect, the disclosure provides a mobiletelecommunications system anchor base station for a mobiletelecommunications system including at least one anchor cell and atleast one slave cell being associated with the anchor cell, the anchorbase station comprising circuitry being configured to transmit systeminformation based on beam information.

According to a second aspect, the disclosure provides a mobiletelecommunications system slave base station for a mobiletelecommunications system including at least one anchor cell and atleast one slave cell being associated with the anchor cell, the slavebase station comprising circuitry being configured to transmit systeminformation based on beam information.

According to a third aspect, the disclosure provides a user equipmentbeing connectable to at least one anchor cell and at least one slavecell of a mobile telecommunications system, the mobiletelecommunications system comprising the anchor cell being configured tocommunicate with at least one user equipment and at least one slavecell, the at least one slave cell being established by a slave basestation and being configured to communication with at least the userequipment and the anchor base station, the user equipment comprising acircuitry being configured to obtain geolocation information of the userequipment; and to receive system information from a specific beam basedon the geolocation information.

Further aspects are set forth in the dependent claims, the followingdescription and the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments are explained by way of example with respect to theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a radio access network with a control plane cell,user plane cells and a virtual cell;

FIG. 2 illustrates beamforming of beams emitted from an antenna array;

FIG. 3 illustrates a distributed approach for broadcasting systeminformation;

FIG. 4 illustrates a centric approach for broadcasting systeminformation;

FIG. 5 shows a flow chart of a first method for broadcasting systeminformation based on beam information;

FIG. 6 shows a flow chart of a second method for broadcasting systeminformation based on beam information;

FIG. 7 shows a flow chart of a third method for broadcasting systeminformation based on beam information;

FIG. 8 shows a flow chart of a fourth method for broadcasting systeminformation based on beam information;

FIG. 9 shows a flow chart of a fifth method for broadcasting systeminformation based on beam information;

FIG. 10 shows a flow chart of a method for broadcasting systeminformation based on beam information in centralized approach;

FIG. 11 illustrates system information update based on beam information;and

FIG. 12 shows a multi-purpose computer which can be used forimplementing an anchor base station, slave base station or userequipment as disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Before a detailed description of the embodiments under reference of FIG.1, general explanations are made.

As mentioned in the outset, several generations of mobiletelecommunications systems are known, e.g. the third generation (“3G”),which is based on the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000(IMT-2000) specifications, the fourth generation (“4G”), which providescapabilities as defined in the International MobileTelecommunications-Advanced Standard (IMT-Advanced Standard), and thecurrent fifth generation (“5G”), which is under development and whichmight be put into practice in the year 2020.

As discussed, the candidate for providing the requirements of 5G is theso-called Long Term Evolution (“LTE”), which is a wireless communicationtechnology allowing high-speed data communications for mobile phones anddata terminals and which is already used for 4G mobiletelecommunications systems.

LTE is based on the GSM/EDGE (“Global System for MobileCommunications”/“Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution” also calledEGPRS) of the second generation (“2G”) and UMTS/HSPA (“Universal MobileTelecommunications System”/“High Speed Packet Access”) of the thirdgeneration “3G”) network technologies.

LTE is standardized under the control of 3GPP (“3rd GenerationPartnership Project”) and there exists a successor LTE-A (LTE Advanced)allowing higher data rates than the basis LTE and which is alsostandardized under the control of 3GPP.

For the future, 3GPP plans to further develop LTE-A such that it will beable to fulfill the technical requirements of 5G.

As the 5G system will be based on LTE or LTE-A, respectively, it isassumed that specific requirements of the 5G technologies will,basically, be dealt with by features and methods which are alreadydefined in the LTE and LTE-A standard documentation.

5G technologies will allow a concept of a so-called “virtual cell” or“local cell” or the like. In this concept, a cell is served by a userequipment (“UE”), e.g. a mobile phone, a computer, tablet, tabletpersonal computer or the like including a mobile communicationinterface, or any other device which is able to perform a mobiletelecommunication via, for example, LTE(-A), such as a hot spot devicewith a mobile communication interface. In short, the UE worksdynamically as an intermediate node for establishing an indirect networkconnection between other UEs in the vicinity of the virtual cell orlocal cell and the network, and/or as an intermediate node between UEs.A function of the intermediate node on the UE may also be carried out by“virtualization”. A virtual cell or local cell may communicate with UEsin unlicensed, shared licensed or licensed bands, and it back-hauls tonetwork preferably in licensed bands.

A logical separation between control plane and user plane has beenestablished in accordance with the introduction of the IP MultimediaSystem (IMS) for LTE, and a physical separation between control planeand user plane has been proposed as a possible solution for 5G. Sincerequirements for the control plane should be basically robustness andwide coverage so as to maintain the service continuity, a macro oranchor base station should provide a link to the control plane. On theother hand, a key performance of the user plane is the efficientspectrum usage in order to improve the cell capacity. However, since therequirements of the user plane are highly depending on specific use caseor UE capability/category, a variety of types of reception/transmissionor routing methods are considered according to the respective use caseor UE capability/category taking into account a concept for 5G such as“network slicing”.

For the 5G technologies, it is envisaged that a UE in the function of avirtual cell should be able to take over responsibilities, which aretypically performed, for example, in a base station, or eNodeB (EvolvedNode B) as it is called in LTE (the eNodeB is the element in the evolvedUTRA of LTE, the UTRA being the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access). Suchresponsibilities which are envisaged to be performed in the UE as avirtual cell, are, for example, radio resource management, radioresource control (“RRC”) connection control, etc. Hence, it is notsolely relied on the eNodeB or a small cell to relay data and toorganize the local network, but such functions are shifted to the UEfunction as a virtual cell. The existence of such intermediate nodes ofvirtual cells in the network are expected to offload signalling overheadfrom the eNodeB, to allocate radio resource efficiently, etc.

Moreover, beamforming technology is envisaged to be used in 5G, forexample, for improving spectral efficiency, for managing mobility, etc.Beamforming may also be used with the introduction of mmWave.

The following description will exemplary refer to LTE (Long TermEvolution) technology, in order to explain the embodiments of thepresent disclosure. However, the skilled person will appreciate that thepresent disclosure is not limited to LTE. Moreover, although the presentdescription generally refers to “LTE”, the skilled person willappreciate that “LTE” shall cover also more advanced versions of LTE,such as LTE-A (LTE advance), LTE-B, which is not yet standardized, butunder development, etc. All those versions are referred to as “LTE” inthe following.

The inventors recognized that by introducing a beam information into thesystem information, the signaling can be improved.

Accordingly, some embodiments pertain to a mobile telecommunicationssystem anchor base station for a mobile telecommunications systemincluding at least one anchor cell and at least one slave cell beingassociated with the anchor cell, the anchor base station comprisingcircuitry being configured to transmit system information based on beaminformation.

Generally, the transmission of information, such as of the systeminformation, may include at least one of broadcasting the (system)information and providing the (system) information via a dedicatedsignaling.

The mobile telecommunications system may be based on the principles ofthe LTE technology. The mobile telecommunications system includes atleast one anchor cell, being established e.g. by the anchor basestation, and at least one slave cell being associated with the anchorcell and being established, for example, by a slave base station. Asmentioned herein, the anchor cell may be a control plane cell or a macrocell or the like. The slave cell may be a user plane cell or a smallcell or the like. Moreover, the user plane cell may also be a virtualcell, as discussed herein.

The anchor base station can be based on the known eNodeB of LTE, as oneexample. The anchor base station comprises circuitry being configured totransmit system information based on beam information. The circuitry maybe configured to communicate with at least one user equipment, at leastone slave cell base station and/or with at least one slave cell, and/orat least one virtual cell, as described herein. The user equipment maybe, for example, a mobile phone, smartphone, a computer, tablet, tabletpersonal computer or the like including a mobile communicationinterface, or any other device which is able to perform a mobiletelecommunication via, for example, LTE, such as a hot spot device witha mobile communication interface, etc.

Although herein and in the following features are described which are tobe performed by a circuitry, the same features can be part of a method,which can be performed, for example, by a circuitry, such as thecircuitry of the anchor base station, the circuitry of a slave basestation (see description further below), the circuitry of a virtual cell(see further below), and/or the circuitry of a user equipment (seefurther below).

System information is a type of control information. In the current LTE,the system information is broadcasted in so-called System InformationBlocks (SIB), which are, for example:

MIB (Master Information Block): physical layer information of a LTEcell, e.g. transmission bandwidth configuration, system frame number,etc.

SIB1: information regarding whether or not UE is allowed to access theLTE cell, defines scheduling of the other SIBs, and carries cell ID, SIBmapping information, etc.

SIB2: common channel and shared channel information

There exist further blocks, e.g. SIB4 to SIB19 in LTE, which aregenerally known.

Generally, beamforming is known and it is achieved, for example, byusing multiple antennas to control the direction of a wavefront byappropriately weighting the magnitude and phase of individual antennasignals (transmit beamforming or TX beamforming). For instance, this mayprovide better coverage to specific areas along the edges of cells, butalso specific UEs may be provided with a specific beam.

By transmitting the system information based on the beam information,for example, system information may be transmitted for a specific beam.Moreover, also an own scheduling may be provided for a specific beam.

The system information may include the beam information. The beaminformation may be a bit or the like, which may be included in the MIBor another portion of the system information. The beam information maybe a beam index or the like, which may be an integer. Hence, forexample, a user equipment may determine to receive only systeminformation which is transmitted over a specific beam which is indicatedby the beam information. The specific beam may be a beam of an anchorcell or anchor base station or it may be a specific beam of a slave cellor slave base station.

Hence, in some embodiments, the beam is a slave cell or slave basestation beam, while the system information is transmitted by the anchorbase station. Moreover, in some embodiments, the anchor base stationtransmits anchor cell specific system information and the slave basestation transmits slave cell specific information.

The beam information may further include coverage information of a beam,thereby, for example, a user equipment may determine whether it islocated within the coverage of the beam. Hence, the user equipment maydetermine only to receive system information over a specific beam.

The beam information may further include line of sight information,which may indicate whether an obstacle is between the antenna emitting aspecific beam and the user equipment or not. Hence, the line of sightinformation may also be regarded as non-line of sight information. Such(non) line of sight information may be used in some embodiment switchfrom beamforming to MIMO in the case of non-line of sight.

As discussed, the beam information may identify a (specific) beam. Thiscan be done on the basis of a beam index or the like. Moreover, beaminformation may include information identifying also in which slave cellor slave base station the beam is located.

The beam index can be obtained from, for example, the index of referencesignal like the synchronization signal of that beam, or be configuredseparately by the serving base station.

The circuitry may be further configured to obtain geolocationinformation of a user equipment. Thereby, for example, it can bedetermined which beam is suitable for a user equipment being located ata location which is identified by the geolocation information.

The geolocation of the user equipment may be obtained by receiving thegeolocation information from the user equipment. The user equipment mayderive the geolocation information, for example, on the basis of a GPSsensor or any other location tracking technology.

The geolocation information of the user equipment may be obtained bymeasurement of a reference signal received from the user equipment.

In some embodiments, when the base station has knowledge of thegeolocation of the user equipment, the base station configures theantenna weight in order to form a specific beam directed to the userequipment. When the base station does not have the knowledge of thegeolocation of the user equipment, the base station configures theantenna weights to provide a random beam forming or sweep beam form. Thebeam information may include the type of beamforming, for example, to aspecific user equipment direction, random beamforming, sweep, etc. Whena user equipment specific beamforming is applied, the user equipment maysend feedback information or training sequence (or reference signals) tothe base station. When the random beamforming is applied, the userequipment may change the out-of-coverage criteria (S-criteria). When thesweep beamforming is applied, the user equipment may obtain theinformation about, for example, the arrival of the sweep (e.g. in theform of scheduling information, time information or the like). Then, theuser equipment can be ready for receive it at the scheduled timing.

The circuitry may be further configured to transmit schedulinginformation based on the obtained geolocation information, thescheduling information indicating a broadcast schedule for a specificbeam. Thereby, the user equipment can determine to receive only systeminformation for the specific beam.

The circuitry may be further configured to transmit system informationfor a specific beam to a user equipment, the user equipment being in aradio resource control connected state. Thereby, for example, the userequipment can determine to only receive system information over thespecific beam. The circuitry may be further configured to transmit thesystem information upon receipt of geolocation information of the userequipment. Thereby it may be ensured that a beam for transmission ofsystem information is chosen which covers the location where the userequipment is located. The beam information may include information aboutthe specific beam and other beams. Thus, for example, the user equipmentmay decide to switch to one of the other beams.

The circuitry may be further configured to transmit, e.g. broadcastand/or send dedicated neighboring cell list information indication tothe user equipment. On the basis of the neighboring cells, the userequipment may determine to switch to one of the neighboring cells, forexample, based on its mobility state. The mobility state of the UE isknown in LTE, and it can be, for example, a normal, medium orhigh-mobility state.

The communication in the mobile telecommunications system may bedistributed at least over a control plane and a user plane, whereinsignaling is communicated over the control plane and user data arecommunicated over the user plane, and wherein the circuitry is furtherconfigured to transmit system information over the control plane and/orthe user plane.

The at least one anchor cell may be a control plane cell and the atleast one slave cell may be a user plane cell.

As indicated above, the beam information may identify a beam of theanchor cell and the beam information may include information about thebeam coverage of the identified beam of the anchor cell.

The beam information may also identify a beam of the at least one slavecell and the beam information may include information about the beamcoverage of the identified beam of the at least one slave cell.

The circuitry may be further configured to communicate with at least oneuser equipment and at least one slave cell base station.

Some embodiments pertain to a mobile telecommunications system slavebase station for a mobile telecommunications system including at leastone anchor cell and at least one slave cell being associated with theanchor cell, the slave base station comprising circuitry beingconfigured to transmit system information based on beam information. Ofcourse, explanations made above with respect to the anchor base stationapply also to the slave base station and thus, repetitions are avoidedin the following discussion. The communication in the mobiletelecommunications system may be distributed at least over a controlplane and a user plane, wherein signaling is communicated over thecontrol plane and user data are communicated over the user plane, andwherein the circuitry is further configured to transmit systeminformation over the user plane. The at least one anchor cell may be acontrol plane cell and the at least one slave cell may be a user planecell. The system information may include the beam information. The beaminformation may further include coverage information of a beam. The beaminformation may further include line of sight information. The beaminformation may identify a beam. The circuitry may be further configuredto obtain geolocation information of a user equipment. The geolocationof the user equipment may be obtained by receiving the geolocationinformation from the user equipment. The geolocation information of theuser equipment may be obtained by measurement of a reference signalreceived from the user equipment.

The circuitry may be further configured to transmit schedulinginformation based on the obtained geolocation information, thescheduling information indicating a broadcast schedule for a specificbeam. The circuitry may be further configured to transmit systeminformation for a specific beam to a user equipment, the user equipmentbeing in a radio resource control connected state. The circuitry maytransmit the system information upon receipt of geolocation informationof the user equipment. The beam information may include informationabout the specific beam and other beams. The beam information mayidentify a beam of the slave cell, and the beam information may includeinformation about the beam coverage of the identified beam of the slavecell. The circuitry may be further configured to communicate with atleast one user equipment and at least one slave cell base station.

Some embodiments pertain to a user equipment being connectable to atleast one anchor cell and at least one slave cell of a mobiletelecommunications system, the mobile telecommunications systemcomprising the anchor cell being configured to communicate with at leastone user equipment and at least one slave cell, the at least one slavecell being established by a slave base station and being configured tocommunication with at least user equipment and the anchor base station,the user equipment comprising a circuitry being configured to obtaingeolocation information of the user equipment; and receive systeminformation from a specific beam, based on the geolocation information.

As mentioned, the user equipment may be, for example, a mobile phone,smartphone, a computer, tablet, tablet personal computer or the likeincluding a mobile communication interface, or any other device which isable to perform a mobile telecommunication via, for example, LTE, suchas a hot spot device with a mobile communication interface, etc.

The circuitry may be configured to receive the geolocation information,for example, from the anchor and/slave base station. The circuitry mayalso be configured to determine the geolocation of the user equipment,e.g. with a GPS sensor or the like.

The circuitry may determine based on the geolocation information,whether the specific beam covers the location where the user equipmentis located, as also discussed above.

The circuitry may be further configured to receive system informationincluding beam information about the specific beam. As discussed, thebeam information may further include coverage information of thespecific beam and/or it may further include line of sight information.The beam information may identify the specific beam, as discussed above.

The circuitry may be further configured to receive updated systeminformation based on the beam information, as discussed.

The circuitry may be further configured to receive system informationfrom a specific anchor cell or slave cell based on the beam information,as discussed.

The specific beam may be an anchor cell beam or a slave cell beam, asdiscussed.

The circuitry may be further configured to receive system informationincluding scheduling information and to receive system information fromthe specific beam based on the scheduling information, as discussed.

The circuitry may be further configured to receive system informationincluding neighboring cell list information and to switch to aneighboring cell based on the neighboring cell list information, asdiscussed.

Returning back to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a separation into a userplane and control plane in a RAN (Radio Access Network) 1.

Before the implementation and usage of the beam information isdiscussed, the overall system architecture of some embodiments isexplained.

In LTE, all cells, such as Primary Cells (PCell) and Primary SecondaryCells (PSCell), will transmit the same set of system information blocks.In other words, in current LTE there is no differentiation betweendifferent cells.

In some embodiments the general idea for employing the separation intocontrol plane and user plane is that different cells may transmitdifferent sorts of system information in accordance with their role inthe network 1.

For example, the role of a cell includes its functionality in the wholenetwork (e.g. control plane or user plane, UE cell, i.e. virtual cell),its provided services (e.g. high data volume, low latency, missioncritical, D2D (“device to device”)), its working style (e.g. static,mobile, turn on/off, on demand, always on), etc. As discussed above, theterms control plane cell and user plane cell are used as examples forthe more general terms “anchor cell” and “slave cell” introduced above.The division of the RAN into a control plane cell and user plane cellsis a candidate architecture of the envisage 5G system.

In the following description of the embodiments under reference of thefigures, the term control plane cell is used to indicate at least thatthe mobility management is conducted by the control plane cell and thatthere will be no handover between the user plane cells within the samecontrol plane cell.

Such an architecture is shown in FIG. 1. The RAN 1 includes a controlplane cell 2, wherein within the control plane cell 2 control planesystem information (“C-Plane SI”) is transmitted. The control plane cell2 is established by a base station 3 (also referred to as anchor basestation above), which is in the present embodiment basically an eNodeBtype base station except for the principles described herein.

Within the coverage of the control plane cell 2, a UE 4 is located aswell as user plane cells 5, 6 and 7, wherein the user plane cell 7 is avirtual cell in the present embodiment.

The user plane cells 5 and 6 are small cells and they are established bybase stations 5 a and 6 a, respectively, which are both implemented ashot spots in the present case (and which can be considered as slave cellbase stations in the sense as discussed above). The user plane cell 7 isestablished by a UE 7 a (which can also be considered as a slave basestation in the sense above), which is a smartphone, for example, suchthat a UE 7 b in the user plane cell 7 can directly access the userplane 7 over the UE 7 a. Such a user plane cell 7, is also referred toas “virtual cell” or “UE virtual cell”. In all user plane cells 5, 6 and7, user plane system information is broadcasted by the respective slavebase stations 5 a, 6 a and 7 a establishing the respective user planecells 5, 6 and 7. Moreover, in each user plane cell 5, 6 and 7, furtherUEs 5 b, 5 c, 6 b, 6 c and 7 b are located, which communicate with therespective slave base stations 5 a, 6 a and 7 a establishing therespective user plane cells 5, 6 and 7.

The base station 3 communicates with UEs in the area of the controlplane cell 2 directly, such as UE 4, which is not in a user plane cell,and UE 5 c, which is in the user plane cell 5, and the base station 3communicates with the user plane cell, e.g. user plane cell 7 in FIG. 1.Communication with a user plane cell can mean that the base station 3communicates with all entities within a user plane cell and/or it canmean that the base station 3 communicates with the UE or base stationwhich establishes the respective user plane cell.

FIG. 2 illustrates an antenna array 8, which may be employed by anyoneof the anchor or slave base stations illustrated in FIG. 1, e.g. anchorcell base station 3, hot spots 5 a and 6 c or even by a UE, such as UE 7a, establishing a virtual cell 7.

The antenna array 8 can provide several beams by the above-mentionedbeamforming, for example, beams 9 a, 9 b and 9 c for communicating withdifferent UEs, e.g. UEs 4, 5 c and 7 a.

In the following, a distributed and a centralized distribution schemefor transmission of system information is explained under reference ofFIGS. 3 and 4.

For the present embodiment we assume a separation of the RAN into acontrol plane and a user plane with a respective control plane cell,referred to as “cell 1” in FIGS. 3 and 4, and two user plane cells,referred to as “cell 2” and “cell 3”. The control plane cell “Cell 1”may correspond to the control plane cell 2 of FIG. 1 above, the userplane cell “Cell 2” may correspond to the user plane cell 5 or 6 of FIG.1 and the user plane cell “Cell 3” may correspond to the user plane cell7 of FIG. 1, which is exemplary a UE virtual cell.

In the following, two exemplary embodiments are described which showdifferent approaches for the transmission of control plane cell specificand user plane cell specific system information.

In a first approach, system information is transmitted in a distributedmanner, as also shown in FIG. 3.

The control plane cell, as shown in the first section of FIG. 3 (“Cell1”), indicates respective scheduling information in the systeminformation of its associated user plane cell(s). This systeminformation including scheduling information (“SI Scheduling”) isperiodically broadcasted in a subframe X.

Each user plane cell, i.e. “Cell 2” in the middle section of FIG. 3 and“Cell 3” in the lower section of FIG. 2, transmits its user plane cellspecific system information by itself. Each user plane cell may have itsown scheduling. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, “Cell 2” transmits itssystem information in the subframe Y and “Cell 3” transmits its systeminformation in the subframe Z. The user plane cell specific systeminformation includes, for example, service and/or slice specificconfigurations in the form of service/slice configuration data. As thesystem information of the control plane cell mainly or only containsscheduling information, the signalling overhead for the control planecell is reduced in this embodiment. Moreover, as the service and slicespecific information is broadcasted by each user plane cellindividually, a single node failure problem might be avoided.

In a second approach, the layered system information is transmitted in acentralized manner, as shown in FIG. 4. In this embodiment, only thecontrol plane cell transmits the system information including both thecontrol plane cell specific system information including schedulinginformation and the user plane cell specific system information.However, the control plane cell transmits the user plane cell specificinformation “Cell 2 SI” and “Cell 3 SI” separated from the control planespecific system information “SI & Scheduling”. The schedulinginformation indicates, for example, when the respective user plane cellspecific system information is broadcasted.

With the introduction of the above-discussed beam information, a Tx beamindex together with UE reporting of geolocation information and/or Txbeam coverage information and/or measurement based on UE referencesignaling is introduced in some embodiments, which will be discussed inthe following and which are based on the explanations given above, inparticular, as stated above under reference of FIGS. 1 to 4. Theefficiency to transmit Tx beam specific system information and toreceive updated system information is improved in some embodiments. Inthe following, various combinations of control-plane system information(SI) scheduling information with dedicated/broadcast system informationtransmission are discussed.

In the next sections, embodiments are discussed, which use thedistributed transmission of layered system information, as has also beenexplained above under reference of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a method 10, wherein a user-plane orslave base station “SBS” (e.g. a TRP (transmission and reception point))broadcasts system information and wherein scheduling information isbroadcasted by a control plane or anchor base station “ABS” to a “UE”.

In the system information broadcasted by the ABS at 11, beam information(e.g. beam index) and optionally a beam cover range (coordinates),together with scheduling information is included (e.g. in which subframeit will be scheduled to transmit the system information, see FIG. 3 andassociated description).

The beam index indicates for example a specific beam, e.g. beam 9 a inFIG. 2, which is received by UE 4 in FIG. 2. Hence, in some embodiments,the beam index may be an integer which is specific for a beam. The beamindex can be specific within the coverage of the control-plane basestation (“ABS”) or it can be specific within the coverage of theuser-plane or slave base station (“SBS”). In embodiments where the beamindex is specific for the coverage of the SBS, the ABS includes theuser-plane base station or slave base station identification (“ID”) alsoin the system information broadcasted at 11. The UE can obtain such anID over the reference signal, e.g. over a synchronization signal of auser-plane base station or a slave base station or the UE can beconfigured by a central node, e.g. ABS.

After the UE has received the information sent at 11, the UE considersits geolocation, which the UE knows, for example, from a GPS sensor orwhich it received also included in the system information and/or in thebeam information.

By knowing the geolocation, the UE knows from which user-plane or slavebase station SBS and over which beam it needs to receive thecorresponding user-plane or slave base station specific systeminformation, which is broadcasted by the SBS and which is received bythe UE at 12.

Besides the geolocation information, a non-line of sight (NLOS)/line ofsight (LOS) condition indication could be included as well, for example,in the system information broadcasted by the ABS. Other forms ofindication may include a tall building indication, complex geographicalenvironment within the beam coverage and the like. These indications canbe used by the UE to determine which slave cell or slave base stationand which beam is appropriate for receiving respective user plane cellspecific system information.

Moreover, with this kind of indication, the UE is able to decide toswitch to another transmission mode, e.g. MIMO (multiple input multipleoutput) or transmit diversity or the like, if necessary.

Furthermore, as mentioned, the system information broadcasted by the ABScan include scheduling information which indicates a broadcast schedulefor the respective SBS which is, for example, served by the ABS.

The UE will receive the corresponding system information from the SBS(user-plane node or slave base station) in accordance with the broadcastschedule. The user cell specific system information received from theSBS may also include configuration information about the beam, e.g. beamrelated resource configurations, beam bandwidth configurations, etc.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of a method 20, wherein the user-planeor slave node SBS, e.g. TPR (transmission and reception point),broadcasts SBS specific system information and wherein the control planebase station ABS transmits dedicated scheduling information.

If the UE is in a RRC_CONNECTED state at 21 with the ABS, it will reportits geolocation to the control-plane node ABS at 22.

The control-plane node ABS will check which TRP and associated beamcould cover the UE and then the ABS will send corresponding schedulinginformation of that TRP and the associated beam information (e.g. beamindex as discussed above) to the UE at 23.

The UE will receive corresponding system information on the scheduledtransmission opportunities form the SBS at 24.

Alternatively, the control-plane node ABS receives a measurement reportand/or geolocation information from the UEs in certain beams at 22 orthe measurement repot and/or geolocation information is forwarded by thecorresponding user-plane or slave node SBS at 25, which has beenreceived from the UE at 22′.

Then, together with the new reported geolocation of the UE, thecontrol-plane ABS decides which user-plane or slave base station issuitable for this UE and reports this accordingly at 23, as discussedabove.

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of a method 30, wherein the user-planeor slave node SBS, e.g. TPR (transmission and reception point),broadcasts SBS specific system information and wherein no schedulinginformation is transmitted by the control-plane node ABS.

In the case that the user-plane or slave node specific systeminformation scheduling information is not present or unknown by thecontrol-plane ABS, the UE should know the system informationtransmission opportunities of all the nodes or base stations includingthe control-plane base station and the user-plane or slave basestations. Moreover, the UE should know the transmission beams.

After consulting the control-plane node ABS at 31 as to which one of thetarget transmission (TX) beams the appropriate beam is, which may beindicated by the ABS with the beam index in the system information asdiscussed above, the UE determines based on its geolocation from whichuser-plane or slave base station SBS the system information is read.

At 32, the UE receives the respective system information from the SBS.As a further optimization, the beam index is included in the MIB of thesystem information. Based on the beam index, the UE would determinewhether it reads the following SIB 1 and other SIBs or not.

FIG. 8 illustrates an embodiment of a method 40, wherein the user-planeor slave node SBS transmits dedicated system information in acorresponding beam.

If the UE is in RRC_CONNECTED state, it could receive the correspondingsystem information from the specific transmission beam from the SBS at42.

The transmission can be triggered, for example, by the UE reporting itsgeolocation and/or service request at 41.

In addition to the preferred beam, which is indicated by the beaminformation (e.g. beam index, as discussed above), the ABS at 43 and/orthe SBS at 42 could send neighbor cell information or neighbor beaminformation as well as system information of the neighbor cell and/orneighbor beam including system information scheduling information.

With this information, the UE could measure the reference signal ofneighbor cells and/or neighbor beams and according to the measurementresult, the UE can then select/switch to a better beam according to itsmobility state. The mobility state of the UE can be a normal, medium orhigh-mobility state as it is known according to the LTE standard.

FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment of a method 50, wherein the user-planeor slave node SBS, e.g. TRP, measures an uplink signal from the UE fordetermining its location at 51. Hence, no reporting from the UE isrequired.

A system information update can be indicated either by the control-planecentral node at 52, and can updated by a group of TRPs using dedicatedsignaling, or it can be just sent by the group of TRPs currently servingthe UE at 53.

Delta signaling which indicates the differences between old and updatedsystem information is supported as well. The control-plane node ABSprovides enough information to the UE, e.g. at 52, such that the UE isable to send the uplink signal. Then, the distributed nodes can performthe remaining steps.

In the following, embodiments using a centralized transmission of systeminformation, for example, as explained under reference of FIG. 4 above,are discussed.

In the centralized transmission scheme, the control-plane node ABStransmits the system information also of the user-plane or slave nodeSBS, as illustrated at 61 of a method 60 shown in FIG. 10, whichincludes beam information, e.g. a beam index, as discussed above.

In some embodiments, the ABS establishes a mmWave cell, which can work,for example, in a standalone manner, such that such an ABS is treated asa control-plane cell.

In that case, the above methods of FIGS. 5 to 9 can be applied with thedifference that the ABS (mmWave cell) broadcasts the system informationand also the system information scheduling information.

Under reference of FIG. 10, embodiments are explained which pertain to asystem information update performed with beamforming.

FIG. 11 is similar to FIG. 2 and it illustrates a situation where anantenna array 8 emits two beams 9 a and 9 b, wherein a UE 4 is withinthe coverage of the first beam 9 a and wherein the second beam 9 b has asmall coverage of the UE 4.

The embodiments discussed below address an unnecessary energyconsumption of the UE 4 for receiving irrelevant updated systeminformation. For example, UE 4, which is in the coverage of the firstbeam 9 a, does not necessarily have to receive the updated systeminformation of the second beam 9 b with which it only has a very smallcoverage.

Hence, according to a first type of embodiments, the MIB of the systeminformation includes a modification bit for each beam index and/or theMIB includes information indicating which SIB is updated for each beamindex.

For example, the modification bit will be set to “1” if thecorresponding system information of a specific beam is changed. The UEwill receive the MIB and will then check, whether the TX beammodification bit is set to 1 or not and can determine whether theassociated system information is updated or not.

As discussed above, the system information including the modificationbit and/or the information indicating which SIB is updated for each beamindex can be sent by an anchor cell/control plane cell and/or slavecell/user plane cell (see also embodiments discussed above underreference of FIGS. 5 to 10 illustrating different types of systeminformation transmission).

According to a second type of embodiments, the updated transmission beamsystem information will be sent to the relevant UEs with dedicatedsignaling, wherein delta signaling may be supported as well (see alsoembodiments discussed above under reference of FIGS. 5 to 10illustrating different types of system information transmission).

As discussed, some embodiments pertain to the system informationtransmission/reception with beamforming for future communicationsystems. With the proposed schemes above, in some embodiments, thesignaling overhead for receiving system information is reduced and thesystem information transmission/reception efficiency is improved.

In the following, an embodiment of a general purpose computer 90 isdescribed under reference of FIG. 12. The computer 90 can be implementedsuch that it can basically function as any type (anchor, slave, controlplane, user plane, etc.) of base station, virtual/slave cell or userequipment as described herein. The computer has components 91 to 100,which can form a circuitry, such as anyone of the circuitries of thebase station, virtual cell, slave cell, and user equipment, as describedherein.

Embodiments which use software, firmware, programs or the like forperforming the methods as described herein can be installed on computer90, which is then configured to be suitable for the concrete embodiment.

The computer 90 has a CPU 91 (Central Processing Unit), which canexecute various types of procedures and methods as described herein, forexample, in accordance with programs stored in a read-only memory (ROM)92, stored in a storage 97 and loaded into a random access memory (RAM)93, stored on a medium 100 which can be inserted in a respective drive99, etc.

The CPU 91, the ROM 92 and the RAM 93 are connected with a bus 101,which in turn is connected to an input/output interface 94. The numberof CPUs, memories and storages is only exemplary, and the skilled personwill appreciate that the computer 90 can be adapted and configuredaccordingly for meeting specific requirements which arise, when itfunctions as a base station, virtual cell and user equipment.

At the input/output interface 94, several components are connected: aninput 95, an output 96, the storage 97, a communication interface 98 andthe drive 99 into which a medium 100 (compact disc, digital video disc,compact flash memory, or the like) can be inserted.

The input 95 can be a pointer device (mouse, graphic table, or thelike), a keyboard, a microphone, a camera, a touchscreen, etc.

The output 96 can have a display (liquid crystal display, cathode raytube display, light emittance diode display, etc.), loudspeakers, etc.

The storage 97 can have a hard disk, a solid state drive and the like.

The communication interface 98 can be adapted to communicate, forexample, via a local area network (LAN), wireless local area network(WLAN), mobile telecommunications system (GSM, UMTS, LTE, etc.),Bluetooth, infrared, etc.

It should be noted that the description above only pertains to anexample configuration of computer 90. Alternative configurations may beimplemented with additional or other sensors, storage devices,interfaces or the like. For example, the communication interface 98 maysupport other radio access technologies than the mentioned UMTS and LTE.

When the computer 90 functions as a base station, the communicationinterface 98 can further have a corresponding air interface (providinge.g. E-UTRA protocols OFDMA (downlink) and SCFDMA (uplink)) and networkinterfaces (implementing for example protocols such as S1-AP, GTP-U,S1-MME, X2-AP, or the like). The present disclosure is not limited toany particularities of such protocols.

The methods as described herein are also implemented in some embodimentsas a computer program causing a computer and/or a processor to performthe method when being carried out on the computer and/or processor. Insome embodiments, also a non-transitory computer-readable recordingmedium is provided that stores therein a computer program product which,when executed by a processor, such as the processor described above,causes the methods described herein to be performed.

All units and entities described in this specification and claimed inthe appended claims can, if not stated otherwise, be implemented asintegrated circuit logic, for example on a chip, and functionalityprovided by such units and entities can, if not stated otherwise, beimplemented by software.

In so far as the embodiments of the disclosure described above areimplemented, at least in part, using software-controlled data processingapparatus, it will be appreciated that a computer program providing suchsoftware control and a transmission, storage or other medium by whichsuch a computer program is provided are envisaged as aspects of thepresent disclosure.

Note that the present technology can also be configured as describedbelow.

(1) A mobile telecommunications system anchor base station for a mobiletelecommunications system including at least one anchor cell and atleast one slave cell being associated with the anchor cell, the anchorbase station comprising circuitry being configured to:

-   -   transmit system information based on beam information.        (2) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of        (1), wherein the system information includes the beam        information.        (3) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of        anyone of (1) to (2), wherein the beam information further        includes coverage information of a beam.        (4) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of        anyone of (1) to (3), wherein the beam information further        includes line of sight information.        (5) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of        anyone of (1) to (4), wherein the beam information identifies a        beam.        (6) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of        anyone of (1) to (5), wherein the circuitry is further        configured to obtain geolocation information of a user        equipment.        (7) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of        (6), wherein the geolocation of the user equipment is obtained        by receiving the geolocation information from the user        equipment.        (8) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station        of (6) or (7), wherein the geolocation information of the user        equipment is obtained by measurement of a reference signal        received from the user equipment.        (9) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of        anyone of (6) to (8), wherein the circuitry is further        configured to transmit scheduling information based on the        obtained geolocation information, the scheduling information        indicating a broadcast schedule for a specific beam.        (10) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of        anyone of (1) to (9), wherein the circuitry is further        configured to transmit system information for a specific beam to        a user equipment, the user equipment being in a radio resource        control connected state.        (11) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of        (10), wherein the circuitry transmits the system information        upon receipt of geolocation information of the user equipment.        (12) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station        of (10) or (11), wherein the beam information includes        information about the specific beam and other beams.        (13) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of        anyone of (1) to (12), wherein the circuitry is further        configured to transmit neighboring cell list information        indicating neighboring cells.        (14) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of        anyone of (1) to (13), wherein the communication in the mobile        telecommunications system is distributed at least over a control        plane and a user plane, wherein signaling is communicated over        the control plane and user data are communicated over the user        plane, and wherein the circuitry is further configured to        transmit system information over the control plane and the user        plane.        (15) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of        (14), wherein the at least one anchor cell is a control plane        cell and the at least one slave cell is a user plane cell.        (16) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station        of (14) or (15), wherein the beam information identifies a beam        of the anchor cell.        (17) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of        (16), wherein the beam information includes information about        the beam coverage of the identified beam of the anchor cell.        (18) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of        anyone of (14) to (17), wherein the beam information identifies        a beam of the at least one slave cell.        (19) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of        (18), wherein the beam information includes information about        the beam coverage of the identified beam of the at least one        slave cell.        (20) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of        anyone of (1) to (19), wherein the circuitry is further        configured to communicate with at least one user equipment and        at least one slave cell base station.        (21) A mobile telecommunications system slave base station for a        mobile telecommunications system including at least one anchor        cell and at least one slave cell being associated with the        anchor cell, the slave base station comprising circuitry being        configured to:    -   transmit system information based on beam information.        (22) The mobile telecommunications system slave base station of        (21), wherein the communication in the mobile telecommunications        system is distributed at least over a control plane and a user        plane, wherein signaling is communicated over the control plane        and user data are communicated over the user plane, and wherein        the circuitry is further configured to transmit system        information over the user plane.        (23) The mobile telecommunications system slave base station of        (22), wherein the at least one anchor cell is a control plane        cell and the at least one slave cell is a user plane cell.        (24) The mobile telecommunications system slave base station of        anyone of (21) to (23), wherein the system information includes        the beam information.        (25) The mobile telecommunications system slave base station of        anyone of (21) to (24), wherein the beam information further        includes coverage information of a beam.        (26) The mobile telecommunications system slave base station of        anyone of (21) to (25), wherein the beam information further        includes line of sight information.        (27) The mobile telecommunications system slave base station of        anyone of (21) to (26), wherein the beam information identifies        a beam.        (28) The mobile telecommunications system slave base station of        anyone of (21) to (27), wherein the circuitry is further        configured to obtain geolocation information of a user        equipment.        (29) The mobile telecommunications system base station of (28),        wherein the geolocation of the user equipment is obtained by        receiving the geolocation information from the user equipment.        (30) The mobile telecommunications system slave base station        of (28) or (29), wherein the geolocation information of the user        equipment is obtained by measurement of a reference signal        received from the user equipment.        (31) The mobile telecommunications system slave base station of        anyone of (28) to (30), wherein the circuitry is further        configured to transmit scheduling information based on the        obtained geolocation information, the scheduling information        indicating a broadcast schedule for a specific beam.        (32) The mobile telecommunications system slave base station of        anyone of (21) to (31), wherein the circuitry is further        configured to transmit system information for a specific beam to        a user equipment, the user equipment being in a radio resource        control connected state.        (33) The mobile telecommunications system slave base station of        (32), wherein the circuitry transmits the system information        upon receipt of geolocation information of the user equipment.        (34) The mobile telecommunications system slave base station        of (32) or (33), wherein the beam information includes        information about the specific beam and other beams.        (35) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of        (32), wherein the beam information identifies a beam of the        slave cell.        (36) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of        (35), wherein the beam information includes information about        the beam coverage of the identified beam of the slave cell.        (37) The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of        anyone of (21) to (36), wherein the circuitry is further        configured to communicate with at least one user equipment and        at least one slave cell base station.        (38) A user equipment being connectable to at least one anchor        cell and at least one slave cell of a mobile telecommunications        system, the mobile telecommunications system comprising the        anchor cell being configured to communicate with at least one        user equipment and at least one slave cell, the at least one        slave cell being established by a slave base station and being        configured to communicate with at least user equipment and the        anchor base station, the user equipment comprising a circuitry        being configured to:    -   obtain geolocation information of the user equipment; and    -   receive system information from a specific beam, based on the        geolocation information.        (39) The user equipment of (38), wherein the circuitry is        further configured to receive system information including beam        information about the specific beam.        (40) The user equipment of (38), wherein the beam information        further includes coverage information of the specific beam.        (41) The user equipment of (39) or (40), wherein the beam        information further includes line of sight information.        (42) The user equipment of anyone of (39) to (41), wherein the        beam information identifies the specific beam.        (43) The user equipment of anyone of (39) to (42), wherein the        circuitry is further configured to receive updated system        information based on the beam information.        (44) The user equipment of anyone of (39) to (43), wherein the        circuitry is further configured to receive system information        from a specific anchor cell or slave cell, based on the beam        information.        (45) The user equipment of anyone of (38) to (44), wherein the        specific beam is an anchor cell beam or slave cell beam.        (46) The user equipment of anyone of (38) to (45), wherein the        circuitry is further configured to receive system information        including scheduling information and to receive system        information from the specific beam, based on the scheduling        information.        (47) The user equipment of anyone of (38) to (46), wherein the        circuitry is further configured to receive system information        including neighboring cell list information and to switch to a        neighboring cell based on the neighboring cell list information.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A mobile telecommunications system anchor base station for a mobile telecommunications system including at least one anchor cell and at least one slave cell being associated with the anchor cell, the anchor base station comprising circuitry being configured to: transmit system information for a specific beam based on beam information, the specific beam to be used to transmit data between the anchor base station and the at least one slave cell.
 2. The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of claim 1, wherein the system information includes the beam information.
 3. The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of claim 1, wherein the beam information further includes coverage information of the beam.
 4. The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of claim 1, wherein the beam information further includes line of sight information for the specific beam.
 5. The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of claim 1, wherein the beam information identifies the specific beam.
 6. The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to obtain geolocation information of a user equipment.
 7. The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to transmit system information for the specific beam to a user equipment, the user equipment being in a radio resource control connected state.
 8. The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to transmit neighboring cell list information indicating neighboring cells.
 9. The mobile telecommunications system anchor base station of claim 1, wherein the communication in the mobile telecommunications system is distributed at least over a control plane and a user plane, wherein signaling is communicated over the control plane and user data are communicated over the user plane, and wherein the circuitry is further configured to transmit system information over the control plane and the user plane.
 10. A mobile telecommunications system slave base station for a mobile telecommunications system including at least one anchor cell and at least one slave cell being associated with the anchor cell, the slave base station comprising circuitry being configured to: transmit system information for a specific beam based on beam information, the specific beam to be used to transmit data between the slave base station and the at least one anchor cell.
 11. The mobile telecommunications system slave base station of claim 10, wherein the communication in the mobile telecommunications system is distributed at least over a control plane and a user plane, wherein signaling is communicated over the control plane and user data are communicated over the user plane, and wherein the circuitry is further configured to transmit system information over the user plane.
 12. A user equipment connected to at least one anchor cell and at least one slave cell of a mobile telecommunications system, the mobile telecommunications system comprising the anchor cell configured to communicate with at least one user equipment and at least one slave cell, the at least one slave cell being established by a slave base station and being configured to communication with at least user equipment and an anchor base station, the user equipment comprising a circuitry being configured to: obtain geolocation information of the user equipment; and receive system information from a specific beam, based on the geolocation information, the specific beam to be used to transmit data between the user equipment and the slave base station or between the user equipment and the anchor base station.
 13. The user equipment of claim 12, wherein the circuitry is further configured to receive system information including beam information about the specific beam.
 14. The user equipment of claim 13, wherein the beam information further includes coverage information of the specific beam.
 15. The user equipment of claim 13, wherein the beam information further includes line of sight information.
 16. The user equipment of claim 13, wherein the beam information identifies the specific beam.
 17. The user equipment of claim 13, wherein the circuitry is further configured to receive updated system information based on the beam information.
 18. The user equipment of claim 13, wherein the circuitry is further configured to receive system information from a specific anchor cell or slave cell, based on the beam information.
 19. The user equipment of claim 12, wherein the specific beam is an anchor cell beam or slave cell beam.
 20. The user equipment of claim 12, wherein the circuitry is further configured to receive system information including scheduling information and to receive system information from the specific beam, based on the scheduling information.
 21. The user equipment of claim 12, wherein the circuitry is further configured to receive system information including neighboring cell list information and to switch to a neighboring cell based on the neighboring cell list information. 